ProjectWorld and World Congress for Business Analysts blog seeks to bring together all levels of project management and business analysis expertise, from diverse industries and perspectives, across business groups and information technology. Our goal is build successful collaboration and share content, best practices, techniques, and networking.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

The massive amount of young people who have grown up using
social tools to engage with each other will soon take up the majority of the
future workforce – causing a huge demographic shift. As a result, a new collaborative
workplace is emerging - transforming the way work is done. The future
workforce will likely be project managers without even knowing it. According to
Jacob Morgan, co-founder of Chess Media Group and Forbes.com contributor,
here are seven ways the non-professional project
manager can become a better manager of projects.

Be Mr. or Ms. Fix It.
If you see something that’s broken, take the initiative to fix it.
Develop a plan to solve your team’s most pressing problems and gather
influential people and resources around you to make things happen.

Understand the
Project. The best PMs have a handle on why they are doing a project, who
they are doing it for, the requirements and the timeline. They push back
if senior leadership establishes a deadline that is unrealistic and
doesn’t allow for the inevitable delays, and before proceeding, they make sure
that everyone involved is on the same page regarding budget and metrics.

Be Organized. Collaboration
software was developed for the purpose of keeping your team’s responsibilities
and work easy to follow, but the software won’t do the whole job. Use its
features to communicate action items, keep track of the details and status
of each task, and establish relationships between project aspects.

Don’t Let Them Coast.
Set expectations ahead of project start and hold your team members
accountable for specific deliverables and outcomes. Think about each
person’s development areas and devise ways to challenge them. Your team will be
more productive if members are stretched and able to actively contribute to individual
and team goals.

Be Assertive. The
moment you become aware of a critical issue is the moment you should address
it. Before things get out of hand, speak with all of the parties involved
and encourage a direct conversation. Also, think about the best way to
approach each team member to get the information you need and go that
route.

Macromanage. Effective project managers understand that a
team cannot be productive unless each member has the ability to work
autonomously. Once you set the course, give your people the freedom to
make decisions in their area of responsibility.

Have Their Back.
Facilitate an environment of open communication and let your people know that
your door is always open. Setbacks are inevitable, but don’t play the blame
game and take responsibility for your own role as a team
leader. Support your team when going head-to-head with others so that
they will trust and respect you.